Richard Branson Got in Bloody Bike Crash, Lived to Blog About It

In a new blog post for Virgin.com, billionaire Richard Branson writes about his recent flirtation with death, when he got into a gruesome bike accident while training for the Virgin Strive Challenge in the Caribbean.

Here’s how it happened: Branson was biking down a hill as it got dark. He hit a speed bump head on, and next thing he knew, he body was flung over his handlebars. “My life was literally flashing before my eyes,” Branson writes.

The billionaire’s helmet saved his life, and his cheek and shoulder bore the brunt of the fall. His bike was destroyed, though we’re guessing he can buy a new one. Luckily, Branson sustained no serious injuries, just “a cracked cheek and some torn ligaments”.

Branson writes that even directly after the fall, he was able to make a joke as his assistant Helen arrived at the bloody scene: “I was so glad to be alive that I quickly was able to summon my sense of humour, and said to her: ‘I’m alive! At least you’ve still got a job!’”

As Branson notes, he’s got a bit of an unlucky streak with physical injuries and brushes with death. This year alone, he writes, he’s knocked his teeth out playing tennis “not once but twice”, and also been “kissed by a ray and [run] into a bullet proof door”. Stay safe, Richie. [Virgin.com]